. >>> president obama made the fess cal cliff case to business leaders today. dan lothian is at the white house. dan, he is meeting with business leaders, but there is no phone conversation that is taking place, no conversations at all taking place with boehner now. what position is the white house in? how does the president feel this is going? >> you're right about that. the white house continues to insist conversations are ongoing, but i'm hearing from gop aides that, in fact, what we're seeing in the public is exactly what's happening in the private, and that is that it's essentially a standoff. there are no phone conversations, no e-mails, no texting going back and forth, and identify been talking about this. it's very difficult to see how this process moves fashd if -- we see them bringing in business leaders to the white house, ceos, middle class americans, and they're reaching tout these ceos of the business roundtable saying his policies will help businesses. his policies will make it easier to create jobs and that he is rooting for them. at the time he